Chapter 81 The Rescue Mission
DANIEL'S POV
I stood in the war room with Ryan and Adrian while thirty of Moonstone's best warriors waited outside for orders we had not figured out how to give yet. Emma's research covered the table in front of us like a map to hell itself. Notes, satellite images, property records, everything she had compiled on Dante's real identity and Viktor's operation over the past frantic hours.
"The safe house location is here." Emma pointed to coordinates on the largest map with fingers that trembled slightly. "I triangulated from Dante's property records and satellite images. Deep in rogue territory, heavily fortified, probably guarded by more rogues than we can handle with our current numbers."
Ryan was checking weapons with a focus that told me he was barely holding himself together. His hands moved over guns and knives but his eyes were distant and haunted. "We will go in quietly. Extract Lisa without triggering a full-scale war. No heroics, no unnecessary casualties that we cannot afford."
Adrian shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. "Viktor wants us to come. This entire situation is a trap designed specifically to draw us into rogue territory where he has every advantage. He will have fifty rogues minimum, probably closer to a hundred. We will be walking straight into an ambush that could wipe out our entire rescue force."
"Then we will bring more warriors." I leaned over the map and traced possible entry routes. "Call in favors from allied packs. Western, Northern, and even some of the smaller territories owe us from past conflicts. We could have two hundred wolves there by tomorrow."
"There is no time for that." Ryan interrupted and his voice was sharp with desperation. "That text Dante sent said Bring the father. He means me. Viktor wants me there for the ritual your mother wrote about. If I do not show up exactly when and how he expects, he might hurt Lisa or the baby to force my hand."
I grabbed my brother's arm hard enough to make him look at me directly. "You are not volunteering for a suicide ritual that requires your death. I will not lose you and Lisa in the same week."
"I will do it if it saves her and our child." Ryan's voice went flat and decided in the way that meant he had already made up his mind. "Nathan died protecting her because he loved her. I will not let her die because I am too afraid to do the same thing. The bond will not let me live without her anyway."
Adrian stepped between us and his face was calculating in a way that made me think he had been planning something. "There is another option that nobody has considered yet. We should not try to extract Lisa from a fortified position where Viktor has every advantage. Instead, we should make Viktor come to us by drawing him out with something he wants even more than her."
"What could he possibly want more than a silver wolf and her prophesied baby?" Emma asked from where she stood near the window keeping watch.
Adrian pulled out a small wooden box from his jacket that looked old and carefully preserved. Inside was a vial of silvery liquid that seemed to glow with its own internal light. The substance moved like mercury but had an ethereal quality that made my wolf recoil instinctively. "This is concentrated silver wolf essence. Made from the blood of three silver wolves over a century ago through a process that has been lost to time. Viktor has been searching for it for decades because it is the only thing that can complete his modified version of the ritual without requiring a willing sacrifice."
My eyes narrowed as I studied the vial and the implications of what Adrian was suggesting. "Where did you get something like that? And why are you carrying it around like it is not one of the most dangerous substances in the supernatural world?"
"My pack has been guarding it for generations as part of an agreement made with silver wolves long before any of us were born." Adrian looked at Ryan with something like understanding in his expression. "I brought it here because I knew you would try to sacrifice yourself for Lisa. I am offering an alternative: we trade this essence for Lisa's freedom. Viktor gets what he needs to increase his power, we get Lisa back alive and relatively unharmed."
Ryan studied the vial carefully and I could see him running through scenarios in his tactical mind. "And if he uses this essence, what happens to him? What does he become?"
"He becomes something new that has never existed before." Adrian's voice was heavy with the weight of what he was proposing. "Not quite Alpha, not quite silver wolf, but powerful enough to challenge the entire pack system without needing Lisa or her baby for his plans. It is a calculated risk. We save Lisa now and deal with Viktor's new power later when we are better prepared."
I looked between them and felt my own anger rising because both options felt like losing. "Or option three: we destroy the essence right now, storm the compound with every warrior we have, and kill Viktor before he can hurt anyone else or complete any ritual. Cut off the head of the snake."
We all stared at the glowing vial and I knew each of us was seeing a different path forward with different costs and different consequences. Save Lisa now and create a more powerful enemy later. Try to rescue her by force and risk everyone dying in the attempt. Destroy the essence and remove Viktor's ultimate goal but possibly trigger him to kill Lisa immediately out of rage.
Emma's phone buzzed suddenly and cut through the tense silence. She looked at the screen and her face drained of all color until she looked like she might faint. "It is from an unknown number. There is a video attached."
She played it and we all crowded around to see. The video showed Lisa in chains that looked like silver based on the burns forming on her wrists. She was clearly drugged because her eyes were unfocused and her head lolled to one side. Viktor stood beside her looking exactly like the photos we had from twenty years ago except he had not aged a single day.
His voice came through the phone speaker and made my blood run cold. "Hello, gentlemen. I assume you are all gathered together trying to plan some heroic rescue. Let me save you the trouble of wasting time on strategies that will not work. You have twelve hours to bring me three things: Ryan Blackstone, the silver wolf essence Adrian has been hiding in Western Pack, and Daniel. All three, or Lisa and her baby die slowly while I make sure you can hear every scream. Clock is ticking."